Japan’s first test of renewably produced hydrogen fuel planned

Toyota Motor Corp. and two other Japanese companies said they will operate forklifts using hydrogen produced using renewable technology in a test program starting this autumn.

It will be the first industrial use of hydrogen in Japan, the companies said Monday.

The two other firms are Toshiba Corp. and Iwatani Corp. The Kanagawa Prefectural Government and the municipal governments of Yokohama and Kawasaki, both in the prefecture, will participate in the program.

In the experiment, hydrogen will be produced by electrolyzing water using electricity generated at a wind power plant run by the city of Yokohama. The process will produce no carbon dioxide emissions.

The hydrogen will be used to power 12 fuel cell forklifts in the two cities.

The test will run through fiscal 2018, which ends in March 2019, and is intended to identify problems, with the aim of establishing a viable business model by around 2030.